QueenZone discussion #1190224

cacatua wrote: After updating to CD's now there is a movement to go back to vinyl records? Anyway, I got this CD of Queen II, out in 1991, and on it I am blessed with a "Bonus remix of the Seven Seas of Rhye, with additional production by Freddy Bastone". (More like Freddy Bastard!) "Seven Seas of Rhye" is totally ruined, with a relentless electronic drumbeat and the occasional "Feel the beat?" "Yeah" or "Beautiful" interjected after the body of the song, stretching it out to 6 minutes and 36 seconds of slow death. Ghastly. Why?

Holly2003 wrote:

  cacatua wrote: After updating to CD's now there is a movement to go back to vinyl records? Anyway, I got this CD of Queen II, out in 1991, and on it I am blessed with a "Bonus remix of the Seven Seas of Rhye, with additional production by Freddy Bastone". (More like Freddy Bastard!) "Seven Seas of Rhye" is totally ruined, with a relentless electronic drumbeat and the occasional "Feel the beat?" "Yeah" or "Beautiful" interjected after the body of the song, stretching it out to 6 minutes and 36 seconds of slow death. Ghastly. Why?

I think this was the only one of the Hollywood remixes done by a member of the band (Freddie Mercury). It's also, IMO, the best of the remixes, although that's not saying much. 

Holly2003 wrote: While I've always liked that particular remix, I didn't know it was remixed by Fred until someone mentoned it here on Queenzone. I can't point you to the particular topic as it was a long time ago and I've forgotten the title. It's possible, of course, that they were wrong. Freddy Bastone is not a pseudonym: he is, apparently, a New York DJ.

Hadrian wrote: I think Ogre Battle and Tie Your Mother Down had the best remixes.

rhyeking wrote: I'll tell you what they were thinking! It was something along the lines of..."Holy Crap! We just lucked out signing a deal with one of the biggest rock acts ever, who have a long back catalogue and were pissed off at the lack of promotion they got by Capitol Records in the US. What can we do to improve on that, to really get these guys a whack of promotion? Any ideas...? Hollywood Records Guy #1: "Well, let's release all the albums on CD!" HR Executive: "Great idea!" HR Guy #2: "We should remaster the sound a bit...You know, to clean it up, make it sound clear.' HR Exec: "Excellent, Johnson, you get a raise!" HR Guy #1: "You know, we could put a few extra tracks on the CD, something special for the fans..." HR Guy #3: "Yeah, b-sides, songs that weren't on the albums. Ryko's been doing that with David Bowie." HR Exec: " Good. Good. I like where this is going. What about radio stations, can we get more Queen played on radio stations?" HR Guy #2: "Yeah, we release the CDs a few at a time and send radio stations a bunch of promo CDs, with all sorts of Queen stuff on there, maybe even some new remixes, those are all the rage!" HR Exec: "Johnson, you'll make Vice President for this. Good job!" HR Guy #1: Hey, we can put a few of those remixes on the CDs, too, I mean, not all the albums had, you know, non-album tracks." HR Exec: "Good thinking. Ideas like that are what this company are built on. Someday, you'll be Chief Vice President, just like Johnson here." HR Guy #3: "Yeah, but what if the fans aren't too keen on some of these remixes?" HR Exec: "Well, what more do they want? We're promotining the hell out these albums, remastering all of them, stuffing them extras...Aren't CDs the next big thing? Aren't they supposed to be better than the records? HR Guy #3: "Some people really like records over CDs..." HR Exec: "Johnson, fire Davis here!" HR Guy #2 : "Davis, clean up your desk in the next ten minutes." HR Guy #3: "Yeah, but, all I was saying was..." HR Guy #2: "9 minutes, 42 seconds and counting..." HR Guy #3: "Whoa...wait a minute!..." HR Exec: "Security!" HR Guy #3: "I'm going, I'm going!" (exit HR guy #3) HR Exec: "Okay then, if there's nothing else, let's get these CDs wiped up!" HR Guy #2: "You know, I've got this idea...a collection of great Queen songs...like a Hits collection, but different...Classic stuff! What do you think?" HR Exec: "You'll be President of the company someday, Johnson!"

rhyeking wrote: I've said this before on Forums somewhere... I'm impressed with what Hollywood Records did in 1991 and 1992 promoting Queen in the US. The remasters were great quality and even though some of the remixes weren't fantastic, the desire HR had to give us more than we asked for was commendable. They came out when I was starting to get into Queen and well before the internet, so I was happy to get tracks like "Mad The Swine," "See What A Fool I've Been," "Forever," "Keep Yourself Alive (Long Lost Re-Take)," "Hang On In There," "Chinese Torture," "I Go Crazy" and the '80s Extended Versions. The remixes were generally good, some were really good, and the only one that really annoyed me was "Bicycle Race." If they'd only put out the CDs with the album tracks alone, I'd have taken a lot longer to find the rare stuff. Giving me a taste of the non-album tracks made me thirst for more. Asking "What were they thinking?" suggests that Hollywood Records was making bad decisions. I argue that they made good decisions most of the time and were either mistaken or over-estimated the quality of some of the remixes, but I can't fault them for trying. The HR remasters did have a glitch here and there ("It's Late" and "In The Lap Of The Gods" come to mind) but they've corrected those. I have every Queen album on vinyl. Most were bought when I was poor/cheap high school student going to yard sales. I found some serious gems in thouse 25 cent bins (Zeppelin, Floyd, The Who, Rush, Stones, Beatles...) because adults were selling them off in favour of CDs. Most of those adults don't regret the decision to change format. For them, records were a medium to house the music and CDs were smaller and would last longer, plus a lot of people liked the remastered sound (Let's not get into a CD vs LP audio quality debate...they're different, let's leave it at that). Only recently have twenty-somethings been drawn to LPs. I chalk it up to something between nostalgia factor and audio snobbery ("Look at me, I have *records*...I'm old school! No MP3s and iPods for me! Pass the bong..."). I'm not saying anyone who buys a record is a snob or pining for the old days, but those people exist and drive the current trend of re-issued LPs. I kept all my records for a variety of reasons (collectability, curiousity factor, nostalgia, too cheap to buy the CD in some cases, you name it...). Now that LPs are coming back, I really could care less. I'd be more impressed if these same companies started recreating those perfect-sized milk crates to put them in. Those would sell like hotcakes!

Holly2003 wrote:

  cacatua wrote: After updating to CD's now there is a movement to go back to vinyl records? Anyway, I got this CD of Queen II, out in 1991, and on it I am blessed with a "Bonus remix of the Seven Seas of Rhye, with additional production by Freddy Bastone". (More like Freddy Bastard!) "Seven Seas of Rhye" is totally ruined, with a relentless electronic drumbeat and the occasional "Feel the beat?" "Yeah" or "Beautiful" interjected after the body of the song, stretching it out to 6 minutes and 36 seconds of slow death. Ghastly. Why?

I think this was the only one of the Hollywood remixes done by a member of the band (Freddie Mercury). It's also, IMO, the best of the remixes, although that's not saying much. 

Zebonka12 wrote: It was clearly made by someone who was operating the controls with his testicles.  No further comment necessary